$3 mil to go toward Seattle pothole, street repair

Updated 1:05 pm, Monday, July 11, 2011

The city will use $3 million from a land sale to immediately increase spending to repair and maintain city streets this year, Mayor Mike McGinn said Monday.

"Our backlog of maintenance needs is great, with these funds we can fix 15 to 20 roadway problems," McGinn said at a news conference in the Central District. McGinn said the money will increase the 2011 road repair budget by 33 percent. In addition to major roadway work, the mayor said the funds would pay for 5,000 potholes to be filled and allow the City to keep more transportation workers on its payroll.

Seattle recently sold property at 401 Aurora Avenue North, known as the "Rubble Yard," to the state for $19.8 million. The state needs the land for the Alaskan Way Viaduct tunnel replacement project.

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City Council President Richard Conlin, who joined McGinn at the news conference, said the extra funds "will make a difference...people are not satisfied with the conditions of our streets." City Councilman Tom Rasmussen said the Council will consider the street maintenance money authorizing legislation in the coming days.

Like all city departments, the Department of Transportation is hurting because of declining tax revenues during the Great Recession, facing a nearly $8 million budget gap last year. However some complain the city is raising taxes to accomplish basic maintenance it said would be covered when the "Bridging the Gap" levy was passed five years ago. But city officials say SDOT's budget shrunk over the past few years, offsetting extra revenue from Bridging the Gap.

In October the City Council approved an extra $20 fee for people registering vehicles in Seattle. The car tab money was to go toward a $500 million backlog of transportation projects, officials say, as well as other things like bike lanes. The fee should bring in about $6.8 million annually, the city estimates. While the cost of car tabs varies by vehicle, the average fee in Seattle is now about $50. There's a flat $30 fee the state levies on all automobiles, a $3 filing fee, and a 75 cent license service fee. Residents of urban areas of King County also have to pay an excise tax of 0.3 percent for transit costs associated with Sound Transit and other projects.

Rasmussen and McGinn also said voters may face a fall ballot measure seeking additional funds for transit and road repair investments.

"It's still under discussion," the mayor said. "The funding mechanism they are looking at is the vehicle license fee...We'll go in front of the voters and let the voters decide."